This blog is just about my life and mostly revolves around my son, Jamie. This blog is a combination of everything, whether it may be a new recipe I tried, a good freebie I found, something funny Jamie said, or feelings I'm having about life in general. There's little rhyme or reason. I'll never win any blogging awards, but I enjoy writing about our lives and I mostly do it for my son. It's so easy to forget moments over the years. I've got all these little tidbits of our life in print and I hope that someday Jamie can enjoy them.

I called this blog Mother of Life, Mother of Loss because of my issues with pregnancy loss and the joy of finally bringing this wonderful person into the world. Truly, I feel the pains of loss, but you won't see too much of that here. I am blessed and I am, above all else, a mother of life.

After all the years of infertility and loss, Matthew and I were blessed with a surprise pregnancy. We were pregnant with twins, but unfortunately, Baby A could not stay with us. Baby B grew into a healthy and happy baby girl that we named Bella Marie. We are so blessed to have two beautiful children.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

We went to a Trunk or Treat at a church with some friends a fe days before Halloween. I brought Dynisha with us. They ate, played lots of games. There was face paining but Jamie wouldn't have his face painted on so he asked her to paint his hand. It got ruined only seconds later when I held his hand without thinking. Dynisha chose to have her hair painted instead.

Jamie is getting older and much more adventurous. Even six months ago he was terrified of bounce houses and the like. He would watch the other children and you knew that he longed to participate in the fun, but just couldn't get past his fear. Tonight he actually played in a bounce house and a blow up obstacle course and had a wonderful time. I didn't think I would manage to pull him out to go home. I am so glad that he conquered that fear. Perhaps he will be bolder the next time he is afraid to do something that he really does want to do.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until it is creamy. Add the egg and continue beating. Gradually add flour and continue beating. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop the cookies in rounded spoonfuls on a baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.

This made us 18 cookies, but will probably make you about 20. I think we ate a few in the dough stage!

Monday, October 26, 2009

I really had a good time with Jamie today. Today was the first day of him fall break from school. We slept in late. He slept in the bed with me last night. He started out in his own bed, but ended up in with Matthew and I. I don't mind. I love having him close to me. I went to bed after Matthew and when I got in there he was snuggled up to his Daddy and the two of them were taking up less than half the bed. Moments like that melt my heart.

We relaxed the first part of the day. I heated up some Chicken Tetrazinni that I had made last week and frozen. I got the recipe from www.moneysavingmom.com. It was really good. Jamie loved the cheesy noodles. I did some laundry and late in the afternoon we headed out to Jamie's school and hunted for pretty leaves and pine cones. At first we didn't have much luck with the pine cones. I started on the paths in the woods around the school and didn't find any at all. When we walked around the back of the school we found plenty, though. When we got home I dumped everything out on the table and let Jamie fill a clear glass vase. Then we pressed leaves between two pieces of wax paper. I don't think my iron gets hot enough without the steam setting for them to press well, but Jamie was happy with it. Now I have a lovely centerpiece on my kitchen table.

Now we're sitting on the couch watching Cake boss together. Jamie just loves that show. He's so facinated by the whole thing. He loves cooking shows, too, but nothing beats Cake Boss.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Yesterday we went to spent the night with my friend and her kids. She roasted pumpkin seeds and I carved the pumpkins. I thought I would never get finished. The cat one was the hardest, but the pirate ship and the skull were a bit tedious, too. The kids picked out what they wanted on their pumpkins. Jamie's are the bat, the cat, and the "fire mouth".

The large pumpkin with three bats on it is actually a pie pumpkin so I scraped it out as much as I could to use for goodies. I'll have to post about that later.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Jamie's class had a Pumpkin Day today at school. There were four tables set up. One table was decorating pumpkin cookies, one was making necklaces, one was making a Popsicle stick pumpkin face craft, and my table was making pumpkin bags. I had so much fun volunteering in class despite being sleepy from last night. I am so glad that I could participate.

We were asking the kids which table they liked best and they all were saying they liked the cookie table. Jamie said, "I liked your table, Mommy, because you were there." Awww. He knows how to melt his Mommy's heart.

Jamie had a sleep study done last night. For years he has been having these "tantrums" during the night. I couldn't tell if he was awake or not. He can be so out of control during these episodes and I have become increasingly concerned about them. On top of that he sleeps with his eyes partially open, he talks in his sleep and often yells out in his sleep. He also seems so restless during the night.

The sleep schedule happened so fast. We ended up having about four hours notice. I think that's fabulous, though. I'm so glad we got in so quickly.

I'm very happy that everything that I'm concerned about happened during our visit. I guess we'll get some answers soon. During Jamie's night tantrum the nurse came in and told me that he was indeed asleep. She also came back and told me when he was awake so I could comfort him and try to settle him back down to get some rest.

He had a Pumpkin Party in class at school today. I volunteered to work in the classroom. We were both so exhausted that we went home and went to bed after the sleep study and then just went in time for the party. Though we were both very worn out, it really was a good day for this to happen on since he didn't have to concentrate on academics.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Jamie's class went on a trip to the Fruit and Berry Patch. I was lucky enough to be able to chaperone. Jamie and I were paired with his best friend, Ande, and his mom. We got to take a ride on a cart pulled by a tractor, feed goats, pick out a little pumpkin, pick apples, and go through a corn maze.